Interstellar Heritage and the Birth Environment of the Solar System

TL;DR

This paper reviews the composition of cometary materials and their implications for understanding the solar system's origins, emphasizing recent advances and the evidence for a clustered star-forming birth environment.

Contribution

It synthesizes recent compositional data from various sources to support the hypothesis of the solar system forming in a clustered environment.

Findings

Cometary compositions indicate a birth in a clustered star-forming region.

Isotopic ratios and radionuclides support a specific solar birth environment.

Laboratory and remote studies provide complementary insights into solar system origins.

Abstract

In this chapter, we explore the origins of cometary material and discuss the clues cometary composition provides in the context of the origin of our solar system. The review focuses on both cometary refractory and volatile materials, which jointly provide crucial information about the processes that shaped the solar system into what it is today. Both areas have significantly advanced over the past decade. We also view comets more broadly and discuss compositions considering laboratory studies of cometary materials, including interplanetary dust particles and meteoritic material that are potential cometary samples, along with meteorites, and in situ/remote studies of cometary comae. In our review, we focus on key areas from elemental/molecular compositions, isotopic ratios, carbonaceous and silicate refractories, short-lived radionuclides, and solar system dynamics that can be used as probes of the solar birth environment. We synthesize this data that points towards the birth of our solar system in a clustered star-forming environment.